Avenue N now open
GLYNIS CRAWFORD SMITH/THE HIGHLANDER
No sooner are barricades removed than the first intrepid motorist takes the new tarmac of Avenue N to a Ranch to Market Road 1431 destination. The new roadway opened at 8 a.m. Wednesday, June 29, ending the detour to Ford & Crew Home & Hardware, H-E-B and Bealls. A new home for the department store is well underway west of Avenue N.
BY GLYNIS CRAWFORD SMITH
THE HIGHLANDER
Without fanfare, barricades were moved aside at 8 a.m. this morning Wednesday, June 28, on the new realignment of Avenue N with Bluebonnet Drive at Ranch to Market Road 1431 in Marble Falls.
City of Marble Falls employees washed the entire roadway Monday afternoon and spent the last hour today clearing chinaberry trees for an unobscured sightline to RM 1431 from the new Avenue N stop sign.
"The City is excited about the new road project and redevelopment of the area and would like to thank everyone for their patience during the construction," said Mayor John Packer.
The project that began Feb. 10, actually is ahead of its revised opening date of July 18, according to City Engineer Eric Belaj.
“The rain set it back slightly, but it was encountering substandard soil conditions that caused the greatest delay,” he said. “The construction is substantially complete, so we can open the road to public use, but the contractor is not finished with work along the side of the street.”
For now, drivers will encounter stop signs at the intersection.
“We are still discussing the configuration of the intersection (signals),” said Belaj. “We expect traffic signals at the end at the end of August, but that is not set in stone.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety will leave both new lights and the existing lights at the entrance to H-E-B in place.
“Both signals will be operational until the new H-E-B is built with a new driveway farther west on 1431,” said Belaj, explaining access to the new Bealls. “That entrance will be from a driveway between 1431 and Ninth Street, not from a city street.”
The contract between City of Marble Falls and Ross Construction, originally was $662,516 for the project, but the bottom line will be adjusted for geotechnical tests of the soil conditions and the work to amend them. This city has done other related work and will contract with striping and all that will fiture into the total cost of the project.
The opening ends the detours to Ford & Crew Home & Hardware, H-E-B and Bealls. A new home for the department store is the construction project west of Avenue N.
